We live during one of the great eras of exploration. At this very moment, there are dozens of spacecraft surveying the solar system, from Mars, to Saturn, to Pluto and beyond. What’s more, you can ride along with these expeditions — all you need is an internet connection to see the latest discoveries from deep space. Here are a few essential resources for the armchair astronaut:

1. It’s Like Facebook, but for Planets

Or is it more of a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Solar System? Whatever you want to call it, our Planets page offers quick rundowns, as well as in-depth guides, for all the major bodies in the solar system. Explore from the sun all they way out to the Oort Cloud.

2. Robots to the Rescue

Saturn looks spectacular through a telescope, but there’s only so much you can learn about it from the ground. Going there in person is tough, too. While we are now preparing to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit, a human mission to Saturn won’t be possible in the near future. That’s where the space robots come in. For example, the Cassini spacecraft studies Saturn and its moons up close, sometimes even doing things like flying right through the geyser plumes of the ice moon Enceladus. See all the solar system missions, past and present, where they went and what they’ve seen HERE.

3. Keep Your Eyes on This One

If you still haven’t tried Eyes on the Solar System, you’re missing out. This online simulation lets you tour the planets and track the past, current and future positions of spacecraft — right in your web browser, all in 3D. Eyes on the Solar System uses real NASA data to help you take a virtual flight across both space and time.

4. Images in the Raw

You don’t have to wait for a news release to see pictures from planetary missions. Some missions allow you to see raw, unprocessed images sent straight from the spacecraft. What these images lack in explanatory captions they make up for in freshness — sometimes you can see pictures from Mars or Saturn that are mere hours old. There’s something exhilarating about being among the first human beings ever to see an alien landscape. Peruse our new raw image pages HERE.

5. Bring It On Home

After you’ve toured the far reaches of the solar system, you can always come home again. When you have spent time studying the harsh conditions of our neighboring planets, the charms of a unique paradise come into sharp focus, the place we call Earth. Watch a real-time video feed from Earth orbit HERE. You can also see a daily global view of our planet from a million miles away HERE. Download THIS Earth Now mobile app to hold the planet in your hands.

Want to learn more? Read our full list of the 10 things to know this week about the solar system HERE.

Hello, my lovelies ^-^ I wrote this ficlet a couple of weeks ago after some comment I read on my bb ter0rr’s blog about Adam, Nigel and a possible daddykink scenario. Please note I am not back on the writing saddle yet, so it will take me some time to write the next part- but I felt like publishing this first chapter for you all ♥

I tried to be as respectful as I could to Adam’s characterization as a young man with Asperger’s, and if I succeeded it was because of the invaluable help I got from brassknuckled, who sent me a quick and insightful beta which made the story so much better <3

Saturn’s northern hemisphere. Taken August 19, 1981 from the Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager spacecraft was one of the first missions to get pictures from space of Saturn (as well as the other outer planets) and was a major achievement of NASA.

What are your thoughts on the whole Walking Dead Twitter "Beth is Back!" comment? Do you think they're big enough a**holes to do that to Team D and not bring our girl back?

I honestly don’t believe they would try to fan those flames especially knowing there’s people out there that don’t believe she’s really gone. It doesn’t seem logical or professional.

Regardless what anyone says, Emily and Gimple aren’t on bad terms. I read body language. When I saw their pictures from the Saturn awards, they seemed to be fine with each other. I didn’t see any tension at all. There’s no reason for AMC to have beef with Emily. She never did them wrong and even if she had, this isn’t their first rodeo. They’re all professionals. They wouldn’t be promoting her at all in that case. She would be simply erased and forgotten about. But she’s not. They continue to mention her. She’s continuously brought up and oddly spoken of in connection to the show.

It would serve no purpose to mention her in conjunction with the show if she was no longer an active cast member. They wouldn’t call her Beth. That’s bad taste. They would simply say, “Emily is back!” Because Beth and Emily are not the same person. Emily the actress and singer is the one making the music so there is little reason to refer to her as Beth if we are to believe that there is no longer a Beth on the show. The only reason for that is to keep Beth in everyone’s mind and plant that little seed. Show me the tweet where they promote Chad Coleman’s new show and say, “Tyreese is back!” and then I will correct myself but not until then. This was done for an explicit PR reason and you can’t tell me otherwise. The closer it gets, the more obvious they become.